I knew they'd come together eventually

Joined: 06 Jul 2003 Posts: 8380 Location: Central CA

The Real AIG Scandal, Continued!

The transfer of $12.9 billion from AIG to Goldman looks fishier and fishier.

Now we don't have to decide which one is the most evil... they can share the flipping title.

Joined: 08 Jul 2003 Posts: 6309

The Rolling Stone piece covered this as well. This all goes back to the contortion of TARP being for LENDERS and not insurance & companies and investment banks but they toss the 'too big to fail' and 'systemic risk' and every gets ' sucker ' tattoed on their butts .

Briefly playing devils advocate the bubble was collapsing by 2007 obvious to all. To most it was just slowly home sales but not failing mortgages. I remember reading pieces in 2005 that ARMs would be a mess.

But still one must ask how exactly did Goldman the exact content AND condition of those CDOs with ARMs. I mean I heard expert and analysts alike crying oh we don't know what's in them yet. But as Taibbi reported in RS piece those CDOs had ARMs or some mortgages where home BUYERS had less than 1% equity in their houses. How did Goldman come across statistics like that ? That should be between the actual lender/bank and the home buyer/mortgage/ARM user.

It's nice to see that others were calling shennanigans on Goldman and AIG .

Joined: 06 Jul 2003 Posts: 8380 Location: Central CA

In a follow up to the Rolling Stone article...

Stock Traders Find Speed Pays, in Milliseconds

I couldn't help but laugh my ass off at the very last sentence in the article.

Joined: 08 Jul 2003 Posts: 6309

I heard when they caught the energy trader guy that they had all but admit they ' could ' manipulate the markets if not beat the market. One day go to a stock board and look at the buys and sells and you would be stunned at the number of trades done on ZERO news good or bad.

It's a game. You are not investing in a ' stock ' or ' company ' you are playing a game. So now the average investor not only has to look at a company's books/news to see where it's theoretically going one also has to do stock price analysis which nothing more than how stock traders(NOT investors) are playing the stock/game. Many wind up playing the system.

Those in possession of those trading programs are like the George Stienbrenner of the Yankees - they just buy winners.

But even before these computer programs the big institutions were still in a position to manipulate the market by timing buys and sells. I know they say computer trading or the computerized HALT to trading for various reasons is supposed to prevent a crash. But the last few years have been one long slow agonizing crash.

The decline of Sears still beats em by decades though.

Joined: 22 Dec 2007 Posts: 461

around 2000 I played a online Etrade game (based on survivor)

well the top players amassed quite a bit of money granted it wasn't real money but still.

starting with 10K.

so you figure the top might have had a million?...nope...a billion? nope. These guys ended up with nearly trillions of dollars

the mindset was buying penny stocked in huge trades and within milliseconds selling it with every move. We're talking eyeballs glued to the screen here.

This also reminds me of how scary it is as to how many people invest but aren't even on the internet. I know a fair amount of the market and know a trader. But speed is it...bad news hits and within seconds things can move...

There's other factors. triple witching of stocks (end of options, puts, calls and futures). unemployment reports, unemployment rates, fomc meetings.

The casual nature of investing and having "hope" it will go up is questionible. This isn't like growing a garden. The randomness I'd say is tantamount to maybe working in a rehab (I'm not putting down those that work in rehabs but considering what drugs (legal and illegal) people are on it can dictate behavior or lack thereof.

Imagine trying to solve a algerbra problem with say 12 different variables that move in random directions all at the same time..

Joined: 24 Feb 2005 Posts: 556

mdovell

It sounds like your describing the "traders" are playing a game on their computers, and your probably right about the grunts at their computer screens. Or maybe that's what they are, the "traders"... but I don't think so. Their supervisor starts the change of command.

Just like the "grunts" that are real., that are taking commands from their superiors, I'm talking about the grunts that are using their computers to fight wars for real. The foot soldiers.

But I beleive that Nof's and everyone has always been referring to the CEO's and headhoncho's that run these faceless corporations and our faceless government. I don't think Nof's or anyone else was talking about us "grunts" on the floor. The ones that have to follow orders, sometimes just for survival ourselves.

The flip side of the coin is the little guy needs to stand up and say no. It hasn't happened yet., but I think it may be on the horizon. God I pray it is.

Joined: 06 Jul 2003 Posts: 8380 Location: Central CA

Joined: 26 Aug 2005 Posts: 1707

Integrity ??? On Wall Street ??? LMAO.

Thanks for that Nofs. I needed a laugh today.

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